My super-budget ghetto gaming build

[yottabit]

Nice countertops 😛

Hah... it's actually a tablecover my girlfriend picked up 😛

(I'm still using my first tube of ORIGINAL Arctic Silver, what are they up to 5 now?)

uh dude i have a tube of AS5 that i picked up back in high school...i graduated in '06...

Haha, so its even older than I realized. I graduated a year after you, but I started building computers when I was about 9, so it's probably pretty old. I'm using some new thermal paste now for the record.

As for the case, I'm pretty happy with it for now. The temperatures are good, it's not unbearably loud, it houses all my drives, and its not an eyesore anymore so I really have no reason to change it. Plus I dig the retro stuff. I'm playing around with a PIII Coppermine PC right now and also trying to get an old Pentium Pro 200 Workstation I got from work going. Too bad I just threw out all my floppies and AT keyboards :O

So the guy that shipped you that computer basically ruined the motherboard? You sound too nice about that.

This ghetto build sounds like it is getting pricey and becoming not such a great deal...

I haven't hit the $1k mark yet so I still don't think I'm doing too bad, but it's definitely lost some of its value. In truth though I'm having a lot of fun. You're right that I should go after the seller... I should have gone after him as soon as I received it. But I wanted a better motherboard anyway and it's honestly not really worth my time, and its part of the risk I expected buying a whole system through the mail. I plan on replacing the cap and selling it as refurbished or using it for another rig.

that's part of being ghetto; falling apart so much that you need to constantly replace random cheap parts with other random cheap parts !

Haha, I'd like to avoid that if possible. I guess that's why I've splurged a little bit and made this build a little less ghetto. Thankfully I still have the side panel and have a fan mounted in it for my case. With the 5 fans going and the aid from the giant 130mm PSU fan I'd think it's really not too bad on airflow.

I'm glad somebody is getting a kick out of my misfortune and improvisation 😛

 

[Vincent]

Nice setup. I have one of those cases in my attic, kept around just in case.

 

[Davidh373]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TwinsenTacquito
I built a friend a system with a tornado fan. I'll never hear the end of that.
neither will your friend.

lolz, good one!

44.99+9.99 Shipping dude

If he is going to get that why not get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-161-_-Product

he only gets one fan, but he already has fans and the case is cheaper since there is no shipping charge.

 

[yottabit]

Just wanted to give everyone an update. Despite everyones quarrels about me using this old case I can say it cools just fine. With the 5 80mm fans and the speed controllers it can move a surprising amount of air and be somewhat quiet when it wants to. At full fan speed it moves a RIDICULOUS amount of air. I didn't realize how much dust it had sucked in- my dust filter was completely covered (like, vacuum cleaner bag covered) as were all my heatsinks inside. I had some fun with it the other day and took her up to 3.8 Ghz on 1.25 vcore, and load temps were only a little over 60 deg. C.

Currently the whole rig is taken apart and I'm using it as a donor for a super SFF build I'm doing. I may end up leaving the Core i5 750 in that, or putting it in a new case with something like a 6950 if games aren't too CPU bound by then.

Here's a teaser shot:

Needless to say this case I'm designing will be much, much smaller 😀

I'd also like to say that I am in love with the WD 1tb Caviar Blues. They are so fast... I used to hold out so long on hard drive upgrades. Now I can't stand anything that has less than 120 mb/s transfer rates. I believe I've seen them hit 145 transferring from drive to drive.

I built a new HTPC using a Athlon II x2 250, 4 GB DDR3 and a Biostar 760g mobo. Spent around $90 on those parts from microcenter. I use this pc more than any other now as it's so convenient to just relax on my couch and type away. I think that may be my first PC to get an SSD. It'll also be calling my video capture card home, and I plan on handing down my 5770 to it someday.

HTPC pics:

I have to say I'm impressed with the AMD build. The 3 Ghz Regor does great for web browsing and can watch 1080p flash no problem, 40% CPU Utilization. The 760g graphics are pretty good too, I was worried because I couldn't find a benchmark for them. My girlfriend plays WoW and she gets a constant 60 fps in normal environments and around 45 fps in populated ones, with the lowest settings. A big step up from her 1.8 Celeron/Intel GMA3100 laptop.

I had hell getting the 1.65v "Intel compatible" RAM I got working. Eventually got it to test 24 hr stable at some reduced clockrates and called it a day. Not bad for a $90 CPU/mobo/ram combo